THE CONTINUING SAGA OF PEBBLE MINE AND BRISTOL BAY, ALASKA
Now that Obama has been re-elected we don't have to worry about a Romney administration dismantling the EPA. With renewed wind at their backs, environmentalists are making sure that the EPA remains unimpeded in its job of protecting sensitive environments, like Bristol Bay in SW Alaska, where the Pebble Mine is being proposed at the headwaters of one of the world's most productive salmon fisheries. In May the EPA released a draft watershed assessment of the proposed mine that raises serious concerns about the impact the mine will have on sensitive habitat areas. The report has come under fire from mining interests. On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Kim Williams, director of Nunamta Aulukestai, an association of Bristol Bay Native village corporations, Tribes and the Bristol Bay regional corporation. We talk about why Alaskan Natives have joined forces with fisherman, guides, scientists and seafood lovers in opposing the Pebble Mine and urging the EPA to protect Bristol Bay.
Kimberly Williams is the executive director of Nunamta Aulukestai (Caretakers of Our Land). She has been a subsistence fisherman her entire life and is alsot Tribal Council Leader for the Caryung Tribe and Executive Committee Member for the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation.
- KBOO